The invention relates to the field of superconducting materials and to thin film geometries of these materials which are alterable through use of controlling optical energy.
The superconducting optically reconfigurable device (SORD), of the present invention, integrates physical processes underlying the electrical superconductivity phenomenon with the field of optics. The SORD uses the ability of a superconductor to transition from the superconductive to a less conductive normal state as its defining mechanism. This transition from the superconducting state to the normal state is dependent upon the breaking up of so-called Cooper pair electrons; one means of accomplishing this breaking up is by the injection of what are termed quasiparticles. Quasiparticle injection can in fact be accomplished by various means, however, for present purposes the means of most interest is by optical illumination. For these purposes, similar behavior between high and low temperature superconductors is presumed.
The patent art indicates the presence of considerable activity in the superconducting and other SORD related arts. Included in this activity is the patent of J. H. Boufford et al, U.S. 4,586,062, which teaches the achievement of microcircuits formed of superconducting material, material which when exposed to cryogenic temperatures, provides superconducting regions.
Additionally included in the art is the patent to N. Hayashi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,355, describing a method of producing a superconducting device by applying a laser beam to a part of the superconducting phase to cause transition from a superconducting to a non-superconducting phase.
Also included is the patent to H. H. SZU, U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,882, describing a superconducting optical switch which is controlled by radiation from a spatial light modulator.
Additionally included in this art is the patent to J. V. Mantese et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,115, teaching the formation of a superconductive device of metallo-organic film which absorbs selective laser light wavelengths.
None of these prior patents, however, teaches the achievement of a reconfigurable superconductive device as is accomplished in the present invention.